The soap and the bath
by Thehopefulbluebird
Summary: Carson finds that keeping his emotions to himself slipper than he imagined
1. Chapter 1

**Carson finally gets put in his place but you know what he's like; he's always worried about his pride. This chapter is just the introduction to 'Soap and the bath'. This is my first Carson/Hughes fanfiction so please enjoy.**

"Yes so sorry about that," continued Lord Grantham, "But you'll all need washing still, I'm sure you all know, we have guests at the moment so we only have one bath that nobody's using so I'm afraid it may take you all a while to get washed tonight."

"I'm not complaining," muttered Thomas to Ms. O'Brian. "That bath will be the poshes bath we'll ever see in our lives."

Ms. O'Brian sniggered, which was closely followed by Mr. Carson giving both her and Thomas an angry glare.

"Right you two-" Mr. Carson began to shout.

"Mr. Carson," Mrs. Hughes warned putting her hand on his shoulder; she then turned to Lord Grantham, "Thank you very much Lord Grantham and I'm sorry about my colleges here."

Lord Grantham chuckled," No problem, I think the only problem left is Mr. Carson's pride after you just upstaged him."

Mr. Carson turned a shade of red while Mrs. Hughes looked at her feet before saying," Well I dare say he deserved it."

"You know I think he did, he needs to be upstaged every now and again, it's rather funny really," and with that Lord Grantham left.

Mr. Carson raised his eyebrows and all the servants left the servants hall laughing and giggling.

Mrs. Hughes and Mr. Carson sat down, "There goes my pride." He sighed.

"They'll soon forget," smiled Mrs. Hughes, "Lord Grantham was just joking; I can tell you many servants wish for their masters to joke with them and treat them like people."

"I doubt they will forget but I guess I should be more grateful," sighed Mr. Carson, "Do you take me for a fool Mrs. Hughes?"

"Not this again please, people will always joke about other people; it's human nature. Like I said before you are the heart of this house, you may wear us all down with your constant naggings, but you do it because you care and I don't know where we'd all be without you." Mrs. Hughes smiled weakly placing her hand on his.

Silence.

Mrs. Hughes couldn't decide whether it would be more awkward to remove her hand or keep it there until Mr. Carson said, "Well at least I have your trust." "And that's all the counts." He added quickly and very quietly.

"Anyway," Mrs. Hughes cheerfully said while removing her hand, "Did you buy the soap I paid you for down in the village?"

"Yes! I did indeed," replied Mr. Carson, "Here it is."

Mr. Carson produced a small paper bag from his pocket and handed it to Mrs. Hughes. Mrs. Hughes inspected it and then looked to Mr. Carson.

"This isn't the soap I paid you for."

"Well its soap isn't it?"

Mrs. Hughes sniffed the soap, "Yes but it smells like very expensive soap."

"I thought you'd like it, the smell of it seemed nicer to the one you asked for, besides think of it a gift."

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Mocked Mrs. Hughes as she got up.

"No…I didn't mean it like that."

"I know, I playing with you," she said as she left.

**Thanks for reading, I'll be updating soon. Please comment if you enjoyed. **


	2. Chapter 2

**I decided to do this chapter in 1****st**** person, I'm not sure how you'll all react to it so please let me know. I think I will do the next chapter back in 3****rd**** person and I promise it will also move the whole Carson/Hughes story on a bit more as this chapter is more of a buildup.**

**Carson**

I watched her walk away from the table which we sat at, she's shaking her head and muttering under her breath. I wonder if I annoy her. I wouldn't really know, I never know what's she's thinking. How stupid am I? I don't even know how my wife feels, there I go again. Day dreaming. I wish she was my wife but she's not, in fact I'm pretty sure she's still in love with that farmer. I know she let him go again, me of anyone would, when she told me about his offer I was so scared; I thought she was telling me she said yes, that she was leaving and all my chances were over. But no, I should be relived but if anything it just made me more edgy. I hate it though, people think I have no heart; that all I ever think about is work and pride well keeping those assumptions alive is the hardest thing I've ever done. Especially with Elsie around, the Elise that I'll never have.

**Hughes**

I just finished having one of the conversations with Carson, he can be rather… Well rather odd sometimes, I mean for someone who keeps his head held high and his heart sunken deep down he can be very emotionally. Of course I feel for him but I don't know, he's just so unreadable and it confuses me. Well apparently I was too deep down in thought because Anna just ran into me saying something about Lady Grantham.

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked

"Lady Grantham wishes to see you, she's in the library." she replied.

"Oh well thank you Anna," I said dismissing her and heading up the stairs.

I soon found my way to the library and judging by Lady Grantham's face I didn't think I was in any bother, well I hoped so anyway.

"Lady Grantham? You asked for me."

"Yes, I wanted to ask you something, you see I've had a tip from someone about two of our staff. A tip of from Ms. O'Brian and Thomas none that less so I was hoping you could help me work out if it was true or not."

My mind was racing, what had Ms. O'Brian said? I couldn't work out which staff she was on about. Then it hit me. Mr. Carson and I are always nagging her and Thomas, wouldn't it be fitting if we'd done something terrible and had to leave Downton?

"Well," my voice seemed to quiver, "I can certainly try."

"It's Anna and Bates."

Of course how could have I been so stupid, everyone downstairs knew about them two and everyone downstairs also knew about Thomas's hatred for Bates.

"What about them my Lady?" I asked innocently.

"So it is true," she said.

I began to realize what I'd just done, I'd protected Anna yet I'd lied to her Ladyship. This couldn't go down well.

"Don't look so concerned Mrs. Hughes, I'm not about to give you your notice for simply protecting your friends. Nor am I going to dismiss Anna or Bates, I'm just nosey," she smiled.

I was about to answer but Mr. Carson walked in. "Oh I'm sorry my Lady, I didn't realize you were in here."

"No matter, do come in."

He walked up to us and gently placed his hands on my shoulders and moved me to the side.

"Lady Mary just wanted me to inform you that she is back from her hunt," He said.

"Oh good, I hope she's not-" Lady Grantham began.

"Not too muddy," Lord Grantham finished as he strides into the room.

Lord Grantham looked at her husband and smiled, Mr. Carson looked to me and we laughed. We often talk about them two; we always have loved how much those two care about each other.

"Well you two may leave," Lord Grantham said to us.

We headed to the door muttering to each other about Lord and Lady Grantham; giggling like children. I was so happy, everything was back to normal, Carson had stopped being melancholy and our friendship was restored. I heard my name; Lady Grantham had said my name. I stopped.

"Are you quite alright Mrs. Hughes?" he asked me.

"Oh I'm fine, I just need to tie my shoes," I said, "You go on ahead."

"Alright," he shrugged," I'll see you downstairs."

I bent down, pretending to tie my shoes, waiting for him to disappear around the corner. Then I made my move, I slowly walked up to a bookshelf to hide and listened; listened to a conversation that opened my eyes completely.

**Thanks for reading, hopefully I'll update again tomorrow. Please leave a comment of what you thought. See you soon (hopefully) **


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm awfully sorry about how late this, it seems I overlooked how busy I was and how, in turn, tired that made me. To make up for it I will try and write and get the next chapter up in the next hour. Also it seems I've forgotten to mention the disclaimer: I do not own Downton Abbey, nor do I own the characters sadly so I will not be making any profits out of this. Anyway enjoy! **

"You are a hopeless romantic," Lord Grantham laughed.

"That's rich coming from a husband that didn't love his wife when they first married," Lady Grantham smirked; she knew she could always get him on that one.

"Now enough of that please, you'll make me feel guilty," he half mocked yet half, and a bit more, begged, "But really do you think they'd be that, well that unlike themselves?"

"Oh come on, they've always been so close."

"Yes, as friends. Oh darling, do you really think two very experienced servants would fall into the trap of forbidden love?"

"Well I certainly wouldn't forbid it, in fact I'd encourage it and maybe Mrs. Hughes holds back; maybe she doesn't know. But I look at Carson and I think, very honestly, he's seen what he wants, I think he has seen it for a very long time I may add."

"You've read too many books," Lord Grantham once again laughed.

"If you say so," smirked Lady Grantham.

Mrs. Hughes walked away looking at her feet; she held her hands and bit her lip. She had no idea what to think but she didn't want to think about him; about them. It's not that she didn't like him she was just never lucky when it came to love, she'd always been independent and that always seemed to bite her in the back and now it seemed all of her past had put her off love quite a bit.

"Besides," she thought, trying to tell herself everything could still be normal, "What's the point in worrying about something that might not even be true?"

She continued to walk to her room, wondering just how blind she must have been to her emotions. Had she been that into her work that she couldn't even listen to her feelings?

"Mrs.," Yelled an angry voice from the servant's hall, after a long breath it continued, "Hughes."

Mrs. Hughes changed her course to the source of the noise, "Yes Mrs. Patmore?"

"I am fed up of having to ask you for a store cupboard key every time I need something, would you please give me a copy of the key."

"How many times Mrs. Patmore, no."

"But this is ridicules!" Yelled Mrs. Patmore, "Mrs. Bird has her own key!"

"Mrs. Bird is the cook of a much smaller house and may I remind you of what you thought of Mrs. Bird when you first met her, why the sudden interest in her?" Mrs Hughes argued, her voice thicken its accent in rage.

"Stop avoiding the whole point of this conversation!"

"Is everything alright in here?" Asked Mr. Carson, "I can hear you two arguing from my room."

"Mrs. Hughes is just being 'difficult' over the matter of the store cupboard key." Smiled Mrs. Patmore sarcastically.

Mrs. Hughes put her hand to her head; it ached terribly. She suddenly felt tired and old she wasn't sure if she was just ill or if it was because she was standing next to him; it felt like she'd been loaded up with too much information too quickly and she didn't know what to do with it. Her head felt heavier so she lent her hand on the table behind her to steady herself.

"Elsie?" Exclaimed Mr. Carson.

"Huh?" Answered Mrs. Hughes, she wasn't sure if she was more surprised about him using her first name or if it was because he'd interrupted her deep thoughts.

"Are you quite alright?" He continued, "I think you should have that bath now then go to bed."

"Oh alright then but I really am okay."

Mrs. Hughes left with knitted eyebrows, too worried about the thoughts going on in her head to care what people thought."

"Oh so it's Elise now is it?" Mrs. Patmore said while raising an eyebrow.

"I was just being friendly," Mr. Caron justified himself.

"Yeah friendly," Mrs. Patmore coughed, "But still this doesn't sort the matter of my need for my own store cupboard key."

"Oh Mrs. Patmore right now I don't think it matters, Els- Mrs. Hughes has taken ill and I have no idea how I'm going to run dinner tonight by myself."

Mr. Carson turned to leave and find Mrs. Hughes just to make sure she was okay but then came the voice of Ms. O'Brian, "You should just tell her."

"I beg your pardon?" Exclaimed Mr. Carson

"Oh come on Mr. Carson," sighed Ms. O'Brian, "We all know how close you two are."

Mr. Carson Snorted, Mrs. Patmore turned to Daisy and gave her a shocked smile, the other maids stared at each other and Anna just found herself grinning; she didn't like Ms. O'Brian at the best of times but she couldn't help but agree with her on this one.

Mr. Carson composed himself, "We all know how close you and Thomas are but do we all question your feelings? No we don't."

Everyone exchanged awkward smiles, other than Mr. Carson that is. They were all amused at how Naïve he could be sometimes; everyone knew about Thomas, even Daisy, but everyone never did seem to include Mr. Carson.

Mr. Caron left the room.

"Well that was amusing," Sniggered Ms. O'Brian.

**Hope you enjoyed that, see you soon (very soon hopefully).**


	4. Chapter 4

**Um so I'll admit I didn't reach my one hour target but I did try **** Any way I hope you like it; I'm sure many of you could have ended this story better than I did but it's the best I could do.**

**Mrs. Hughes**

I feel like a teenager, rushing around with doomed hope in my veins; I'm too old for this and I don't understand why I'm acting this way. If I never before realized that I loved him then why am I suddenly convinced that I love him with every part of my soul? I'm just being stupid. I continued to my room, while trying not to bump into someone else as I really could do with being by myself.

I successfully managed to get back to my room without any more interruptions, thank goodness, it was so tempting just to get dressed and go to sleep right there and then. Yet I didn't, I guess I knew that if I did that Carson would pestering to see if I was really okay since I didn't have my bath. I don't know, why does everything know seem to go back to Carson? I could even smell something that reminded me of him and suddenly I remembered I'd been holding that bar of soap since he gave it to me. Lord and Lady Grantham must have thought me odd to have been carrying a paper bag with soap in it to their library. Oh well at least I had it to bring with me to the bath, that was what it was for was it not?

With a little help of directions from Lady Edith I managed to find the bathroom and I hate to admit it but of course Thomas was right; it was the poshes bathroom I'd ever been in and it was absolutely massive. Although its size was huge, no detail had gone unnoticed, there were beautiful pictures painted on the walls pretty plants in gorgeous all over the room. Then the bath; it was so perfectly placed, right in the middle of the room to show it off. I walked over to it and let the water run, everything was perfect; I could finally relax, well that's what I thought.

**Mr. Carson**

They were right; I did love her, I still do love her, I'm not sure I've never loved her since I've met her. I can't believe I've shown it though, I can't have though; Elsie herself has never noticed it so how could have my semi-incompetent colleges noticed? You know I think some things are just beyond me; some things always seem to include Elsie. She's perfect to me but all things of perfection have their tiny flaws; she's not mine and I desperately wish she was but it's not right is it? Society says no, so the answer shall remain no but these days I care less and less for society. I think I'll tell her before I explode; well at least I'll go see if she's okay, yes that's a plan.

I walked upstairs and found my but not before I bumped into Lord Grantham, "Isn't it a bit early for you to bath? Besides isn't Mrs. Hughes currently having a bath?"

"I believe so my Lord but it is her I am looking for." I answered.

Lord Grantham gave me a strange smile and walked off muttering something along the lines of: 'Well perhaps Cora was right.'

I had no idea what he meant but I soon found myself out side of the door of the bathroom and that smell, it smelt amazing and that was down to me! I do hope she liked the soap as much as I did, I thought it would suit her; it smelt delicate and pretty, just like her really. I was happy enough daydreaming away; thinking how perfect things could be if I had things my way. Then the door opened.

"Mr. Carson!" She exclaimed, "What on Earth are you doing here?"

"Well, I… Er," I stuttered, "I just wanted to check if you were okay."

"So I take it you've heard me muttering to myself about what Lord and Lady Grantham said then? Do you still think I'm sane?"

"I didn't actually, however Lord Grantham did say something about what 'Cora said' to quote him."

"Oh, well… Forget I said anything." She said; she looked like she was going to cry, in fact it looked like she'd already been crying.

I grabbed her arm before she turned away from me to lock herself back in the bathroom, "Elsie if something is bothering you, I'd like to know. Please."

**Mrs. Hughes**

Before I knew it I was crying, he'd used my first name again and he was raising my hopes again; the hopes I knew would get crushed once more. He put his arm out and took me into a hug and I just malted; I simply broke down and that's when I decided to just let everything go. Everything.

"I guess you'd better join me then, come in quickly before anyone sees you."

"What is it?" He asked again.

"Lord and Lady Grantham said some things earlier today and they sort of stuck with me…" I trailed off. "They were talking about us."

"The thing is Mrs. Hughes, I mean Elsie. I love you," He cut me off.

"Didn't you hear me? They were talking about- What?!"

"You heard," he sighed.

He rose to get up, "I suppose I've disgusted you now so I shall leave."

"No wait," I found myself saying, "I- I feel the same."

The silence was awful; I thought he was going to say he was playing a practical joke on me and in reality he hated me.

"You smell very nice," He finally said.

I blushed, "You bought the damn soap!"

"Is the water still warm?" He asked.

I walked over to the bath and put the tips of my fingers in the water.

"Yes, indeed it is," I answered.

"Good," He smile, locking the door.

**Thank you so, so much for reading this. If you enjoyed please (I beg you) review so I can improve my writing skills. Bye for now **


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